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MONTREAL — Emergency room doctors helped implement seatbelt use, lung specialists led the charge to reduce cigarette smoking. Now, a group of sleep specialists meeting in Montreal is agitating for a sleep policy.

That's right. A good night sleep is so important for physical and mental well-being that its lack poses a grave risk to public health, experts say.

If science has yet to unravel the mystery of why we need to sleep, the toll of inadequate slumber is well-documented in studies linking bad sleep to obesity, cancer, cardiovascular diseases and metabolic disorders. Lack of sleep weakens the immune system.

Look at the numbers: 25 per cent of adults don't get enough sleep or have chronic insomnia, said psychologist Reut Gruber, director of the attention, behaviour and sleep lab at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute in Montreal.

But the worst group for sleeplessness is adolescents: up to 80 per cent of Canadian students come to school extremely sleep-deprived, while the portrait of school age children "isn't pretty . . . 43 per cent are going to bed at a very, very late time."

Robust evidence on sleep deprivation and health consequences led most medical schools in North America, including Montreal's McGill University, to abolish 24-hour shifts for medical residents. Not only do sleepless nights impede students' ability to learn, they can lead to medical errors that put patients at risk.

Fatigue is cumulative, and crashing on weekends to play catch-up doesn't work, said Gruber, who is bringing together about 40 sleep scientists from across Canada and the United States to discuss how to translate sleep medicine research, specifically pediatric sleep, into educational and public policies and lifestyle changes.

Some people suffer from sleep apnea or other medical problems that interfere with slumber, but for many, the chief culprit is the mistaken belief that sleep is a waste of time.

"Sleep feels like it's something we can give up when we have other competing priorities," said Gruber, who is chair of the pediatric interest group, Canadian Sleep Society. "Our choices are going to affect many things that are important to us."

In fact, sleep should be a high health priority, along with eating well and exercising, she said.

Children, for example, need at least nine hours of sleep, Gruber said. Among other functions, sleep allows the brain to do its "executive actions", consolidating learning and memory, something that is imperative for academic performance, she said.

Working guidelines on good sleep hygiene would mean, for example, that sports and cultural activities would not be scheduled late on school nights.

"I'm very excited to hear presentations from the (Quebec) institute of public health on this topic. It's a great step forward," Gruber said. "My request to each presenter was to identify barriers to integrating pediatric sleep into public health and the education systems.

"We have the knowledge. We have the evidence. Why can't we integrate it and overcome the barriers?"

cfidelman@montrealgazette.com

Factbox

Five common myths about sleep.

- Sleep is a time when your body and brain shut down for rest and relaxation.

False. Our bodies and brains actually do a lot of work while we sleep, which helps us to refuel and to stay healthy and happy. Sleep also plays an important role in memory and learning; as we sleep, we consolidate all the information we learned during the day.

- Sleep is less important than some of our other important basic needs, such as eating.

False. Even cutting our sleep by one hour one night has a serious impact on our health, mood, and behaviour the following day. Furthermore, a single night of partial sleep deprivation is enough to impair our immune functioning, which heightens our risk for acquiring a virus or illness.

- Adolescents need less sleep than younger children.

False. While it is true that adolescents tend to get less sleep than younger children and may have a harder time falling asleep, getting an adequate amount of sleep is still just as important for their development and well-being as it is for younger people.

- Sleeping in on weekends compensates for lack of sleep throughout the week.

False. Having a consistent bedtime and wake time throughout the week is important to ensure we maintain healthy sleep habits. Waking up early throughout the week and then sleeping in on the weekends creates an irregular sleeping schedule and confuses our bodies. If we do not get enough sleep one night, a better way to compensate for this is a short nap in the afternoon.

- Alcohol and other sedatives help us to sleep.

False. While alcohol may help us to fall asleep easily and quickly, it actually disrupts our sleep and prevents us from achieving a deep, restful sleep. Sleeping pills can be problematic. If we use them regularly and then stop, it becomes difficult to fall asleep without their use, thus starting a vicious cycle of dependence.

Source: Douglas Mental Health University Institute

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